Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense

Oh those poor seiyūs that had to act in today’s episode. I can only imagine the horror when a Japanese speaking seiyū is told they need to have an entire conversation in English in a fairly dialogue heavy show. Japanese and English happen to be two of the hardest languages to learn so if they managed to find one seiyū who could fluently act well in both that would have been a miracle. To give credit they did work on producing it as best they could preventing it from being unintentionally hilarious but to do so they needed to sacrifice acting out any emotion in the scene. As a result you have a scene which looks like it was acted out by Microsoft Sam. What I find odd is how these two’s impressions of Magata counter my own. I was under the impression that Magata was something whom disliked the idea of being held down by anything, yet these two claim that’s exactly what she desired.

My attention on this show happens to be slipping and the reason for that I believe is in just how little information is learned in the last few episodes. In today’s episode we learned…that outside attack is impossible, that Magata was weird even to her sister, that when Moe’s parents died Souhei was with her and that Magata knew this was going to happen 15 years ago. Most of the information is worthless as it does not give new light to motives or how this happened. Moe’s revelation about realising Souhei was with her when her parents died doesn’t really add anything, rather it renders the strange connection Magata and Moe share to be rather superficial. We are more than halfway through the series and not even close to a solution here. As the series is drawing to a close I find my brainstorming getting walled off and boxed in. There are too many uncertainties, a lack of suspects and not enough information to work with.

At this point I can’t see anyone else other than Magata being the murderer and as to why that is, because out of the only characters with significant development she’s the only one that makes sense. The rest of the cast is far too underdeveloped to make a good murderer and our two main characters are the detectives is it wouldn’t make much sense for either one to remain to try and solve a murder they committed. That leaves Magata and the director, who are both presumably dead. The more we see of Magata, the more suspicious she becomes. It’s pretty clear that she knew that this would happen fifteen years ago and the only ways she could possibly know that would be if she was a precog or planned it. Moe’s dream sequence seems to hint that Magata in some way might have transferred her existence to a digital form which I think would be a bit too supernatural for this series. I will accept some truly outrageous technology(Even if it is essentially a high tech version of a sensory deprivation tank(AKA Isolation Tank).) But I think when we reach the levels of AI then things get a bit too fantasy for my liking.

I can’t say I enjoyed this episode of Subete too much, mainly because there was less investigating and more character building. That wouldn’t be a problem if the character building wasn’t so focused on our main leads. The leads are fine, what we need is to expand on the other characters present on the island otherwise who can we point our fingers at and say “There! They did it!” Out of our entire cast, four of them are rounded enough to be considered suspects. Two of those are the detectives and the other two are presumably dead. We still have a host of workers and support characters who have as much depth as a cardboard cutout and if this series does decide that one of these people is the murderer then it’s going to have to make it much more justifiable with its second half. I was rather frustrated to see this episode focus on our two lead arguing over leaving the island, explaining everything we already know to some people who seem irrelevant to the case and the going back to the facility. Admittedly it does establish a reason why this teacher would be given the authority to act as an investigator but it feels that’s all this episode really did. The conflict seemed just like unnecessary filler seeing as it all was pushed aside so easily.

What new information we did learn was minor. One is that when the body of Magata was exiting her room on the robot trolley, the elevator was called to the roof suggesting that someone was there during the time of the incident. The other was that Magata did indeed stab and kill her parents which has me confused. If she intended to do the deed herself then why did she present the knife to the director? Why kill them openly in front of the director and his wife? Her actions make it seem that she wanted to get caught which counter her desires to be unchained. Why did she tell Moe that a “doll” killed her parents? I guess just like our main characters, we just know far too little on these matters to make a judgement. It’s possible that now is when the real investigation starts but if that is the case then I hope we work in some red herrings and side character development. For if this series focuses far too much on the “how did it happen” then the reveal of “why it happened” could come off as cheap and lacking impact.

The more I hear about Magata’s DID, the more suspect it becomes. According to this episode, Magata didn’t conceive DID out of trauma or accident but instead intentionally crafted alternate personalities so well to the point that it became DID. I personally find the mechanics of this rather fantastical as I don’t think anyone can intentionally create a mental disorder. I see this more like a child creating an imaginary friend that’s been blown out of proportion. I really liked Souhei’s explanation on how Magata was pure regardless that I disagree with it. It is a amusing hypothesis that children are born with multiple personalities fighting for dominance and as we grow into adults that personality is chained down to one. It’s the kind of philosophy that I like to indulge in a lot despite it having no real factual basis. Still to determine that purity just seems wrong as in Magata’s case she doesn’t really account for the value of human life. I don’t consider someone who can take a life without thinking about it pure, rather ignorant or emotionally stunted. In either case Magata is most certainly not pure, she’s far too calculating to be so.

I am dropping any theories on the director’s wife being behind the killings as it would be a boring development and having seen the character in this episode I just don’t think she looks to be the type. Instead I have found myself a new prime suspect, one whom I feel has the perfect motive and skills necessary to pull this off. That person being, Dr. Magata herself. At this point I highly doubt that Magata is actually dead seeing as the only person to confirm it was the island’s Doctor. She’s the only one who can program the facility to have a bug at that exact moment and her dead body was the only thing to exit the room.As put forward in this episode, Magata hated being tied down and I have no doubt that being held on this island is completly agonising for her. This entire situation may be an elaborate escape attempt but it seems that something has gone wrong. The director’s death seems to signify that he was going to be the one to fly her off the island but he either said something she didn’t quite like or he got cold feet. One particular detail which I think cements Magata as the directors killer happens to be something that was revealed in this episode. We see a flashback where Magata went to a shop and bought a knife, this same knife was then given as a present to the director at the end of the episode. This is hinting that it was the director who killed Magata’s parents because she desired it but one thing that really catches my eye is the design of the knife. I am willing to bet that this knife is the exact same knife that is currently stabbed into the back of the directors neck.

When regarding Magata as the killer a lot of things start to make sense. On that note I must admit that another outlandish theory has occured to me. Is it possible that Moe Nishinosono and Shiki Magata are one in the same? The reason I have been having this thought is because Magata seems to have a large connection to Moe despite not actually knowing her. Magata make presumptions as to how Moe’s parents died and one detail that really spurs this on is that when Magata questions her on what she was wearing when they died, a flashback Moe has shows a girl in a purple dress with black hair. The biggest torn to this theory is that Moe’s family seems to be a fairly famous name and when it comes to murder mystery in general, the detective being the killer is generally disapproved of. I still would like more information on the other characters but I am very much ready for more Subete, it’s such a pity I need to wait a week to get it.

The plot thickens as we are given a little more insight into Dr Magatas room. In this episode we learn quite a few things. That in Magata’s room she has a robot called Michiru which seems to be built with the sole purpose of imitating Magatas voice and to lock the door, and that Dr Magata suffered from DID.(Dissociative Identity Disorder) However I find myself wondering if her case of multiple personalities is genuine as she seems to be far too much in control of it. If anything it looks more like she invented her other personalities as a means of dealing with loneliness. This episode makes clear that none of Magatas other personalities were involved with her parents murder and states that the only one who could kill them was her core personality. However she claims that a doll killed her parents which according to the main characters could suggest that Magata did kill her parents but was forced to by someone else. Other interesting facts was Magatas messages on her computer which suggest that she knew that she was going to die. In murder mystery, usually everything introduced is in someway related to the murder and this one certainly makes it hard to connect the dots. But allow me to speculate a little. There is heavy focus on the director’s relationship with Dr Magata so it’s clear that is related to all this.

The easy explanation would be that the director killed Magata and that would clear up some issues. After all the director has the most access to the facility and from Magata knowing she was going to be killed, she would be more willing to accept it if it was someone she loved that was ending her life. Her interview with Moe would also factor into this as maybe she felt a connection to someone who was also in love with an older man. But if the Director killed Magata, then who killed the Director? Again, a easy assumption but it could have been his wife. Having learned about there relationship she might not have taken to kindly to it and killed the Director. There is a certain disconnect between the two murders. The first was clearly very calculated, and yet the second looked more like a impulse murder with a simple stabbing. But the directors wife lacks the screen time to consider her major factor. But another question is on my mind, is Magata truly dead? The show itself seems reluctant to have the characters examine her body as Moe was interrupted by Souhei before she could get a close look. The first to pronounce her dead, the doctor, did it rather suddenly. He was strangely not put off by the situation and straight away when to check her Pulse. It’s potentially possible that he was told to lie. Who knows, maybe Dr Magata is actually hiding inside the Robot, pretending to be an AI? Well alright, that’s rather ridiculous.

I rather liked Moe’s reaction to the dead bodies. Often in murder mystery the actual effect of death on people is played down so as to not let the drama effect the puzzle of the murder. Still here we have Moe attempting to brush off her shaken up nature and attempt to play detective. Yet her feelings are clear to everyone present. I still find the lack of character development on the others to be detrimental as I want to start pointing fingers but can’t really do that if the side characters have no characterization as of yet. There is also a issue with the shows rather bland presentation as while trying to find screenshots for this episode I found it difficult. While the shows substance is excellent and intriguing, I find that there doesn’t seem to be an effort to make it visually interesting. Counters to that claim would be that dream sequence at the end of this episode or some of the other more surreal moments. But other than these moments it just feels very…static. Though to the animators credit, there is only so much one can do with a story that has characters primarily talking in a room and not much else. But perhaps use of more visual metaphor could make things more dramatic though that runs the risk of ruining the mood of the scene. I may complain about that but I must admit to loving this series, nothing quite gets my brain working on all cylinders like a good murder mystery. Come up with a theory, watch it get shot down, come up with another one. That’s what makes these kinds of stories special.

Subete certainly isn’t rushing anywhere and that’s alright. The first two episodes looked to be setting up the closed circle and the third a closed room murder. What I like is that we are being clued in on the facts while the characters are so there aren’t any aspects like with Ranpo or Sako were the detective suddenly breaks the Knox commandments and presents evidence that was withheld from the viewer. We already have good ingredients here to ponder. We have two bodies, Dr Magata who had her legs and arms Amputated and was placed on a robot torolly. And the director who was murdered with a knife in the helicopter. Dr Magata was murdered in room that has only one entrance and exit. In the day she was murdered, no one entered or exited her room besides her corpse and The teacher confirmed that only the corpse exited the room and no one else slipped out during the confusion. The system had been programmed to mess up at that exact moment and that system was programmed by Dr Magata herself. Dr Magata herself was also in an adult relationship with the director despite being underage. On top of that there is a clear connection to the murder of Magatas parents 14 years ago which resulted in her getting detained here and this current murder. The pieces are fragmented but allow for speculation, this ladies and gents is true murder mystery. The difference between this and the quick fire no thought required mysteries of other shows is in just how much intelligent writing and misdirection is required to make it work. Because if at any point the author provides too much and gives away the payoff then the story is ruined. It requires a steady stream of information, never revealing the full hand. The big minus of these kind of stories however  is in how they can really only be experienced once as on a rewatch you know all the answers. Still as a great mystery writer Ryoukishi wrote “Tales can be enjoyed twice. First you love them. Then you tear out their guts.”

At the moment my issue with this show is that we haven’t been given much of an introduction to the side characters. Our mains have been given plenty of attention but without much detail on the others on the island it’s difficult to draw up suspects to the murders. I would like the next episodes to flesh out the motives and personalities of the others on the island. Particularly Dr Magatas sister who I currently think is integral to this entire mystery. Our main duo continues to have great chemistry and play off each other wonderfully. What I particularly like is how both of them are on the same level. There is no Watson in these two, both act as blacksmith’s tempering each other’s blades. Whenever one goes along the wrong line of thought the other counters and shows them how they are wrong. It’s a far more interesting power dynamic than having a Watson for Sherlock to explain his thoughts and show how brilliant a detective he is. The method in this show shows what the detectives are thinking while developing their characters and most importantly, showing that they are not all knowing gods of logic. What we have here is two very smart individuals trying to put together a fragmented puzzle and that’s just the way I like it. What is needed for the next episodes is clear, more information, more murders and more character development. Build on the foundation and at the right moment let it all come together in a giant payoff. The factor which will ultimately decide the final quality of Subete ga F ni Naru.